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US 9,287,164 B2Granted
Single exposure in multi-damascene process
AssigneeTessera, Inc.
InventorsCyprian Uzoh, Vage Oganesian, Ilyas Mohammed, Craig Mitchell, Belgacem Haba
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Cavities of possibly different widths can be etched in a stack of conductive layers (such as metal) using the same lithographic mask. Dielectric can be formed in the cavities. The cavities may contain voids. Other embodiments are also provided.
Claims17
A method of fabricating a damascene structure, comprising:
- forming a first conductive layer on a semiconductor substrate;
- forming a second conductive layer on the first layer;
- patterning a lithographic mask over the second layer;
- removing material from the second layer to form one or more cavities using the mask;
- and
- removing material from the first layer using the same mask to form one or more cavities, wherein the removing of the first layer is performed by the same process under the same conditions but at a different rate than the removing of the second layer.
3 more elements
A circuit structure, comprising:
- a substrate;
- an interconnect structure overlying the substrate, the interconnect structure comprising a plurality of conductive regions separated by one or more cavities, each conductive region comprising:
- a first conductor over the substrate having a first width;
- and
- a second conductor over the first conductor having a second width different than the first width;
- wherein the one or more cavities are filled with dielectric material comprising:
- a first dielectric layer comprising a top surface with recesses;
- and
- a second dielectric layer overlying and plugging the cavities but not filling the recesses to form voids at locations of the recesses.
6 more elements
A fabrication method comprising:
- forming a first conductive layer on a semiconductor substrate;
- forming a second conductive layer on the first layer;
- forming a mask over the second layer;
- removing material from the second layer to form one or more cavities which are defined by the mask;
- removing material from the first layer to form one or more cavities defined by the same mask, wherein the removing of the first layer is performed at a different rate than the removing of the second layer;
- filling the cavities in the first and second conductive layers by a dielectric material comprising:
- a first dielectric layer comprising a top surface with recesses;
- and
- a second dielectric layer overlying but not filling the recesses to form voids at locations of the recesses.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.